Autism dividend report

Autism dividend report

In January the National Autism Project published a report The Autism Dividend: Reaping the Rewards of Better Investment. The report focuses on the lack of cost-effective and effective care for autistic people in the UK and calls for national governments to implement recommendations which are based on evidence-based practice. It also recommends that funders increase spending on autism research which adds to this evidence base.

In what remains of 2017, the National Autism Project plans to use the report to raise awareness of the need for policy change and for more funding. However, the project is due to finish within the coming year, and if the report is to have more impact than previous initiatives, the momentum must not be lost. As the authors of the report conclude, the combination of a heavy cost burden with a paucity of evidence-based support for autistic people in the UK is an unsustainable state of affairs.